entering a dual carriage way

[moanthebairns]

This morning I was on a stretch of dual carriage way roughly about 1/10 of a mile long.

I was on the left hand lane doing about 50 mph.

I seen the opening for cars to enter ahead of me and a woman in a c4 stationary in this slot.

I seen her look at me then the road ahead, I thought to myself she is going to pull out in front of me so I signalied and moved to the right hand lane.

As predicted she pulled out, but to my amazement into the right hand lane I was in. I had started breaking prior to this but really had to slam the brakes on! Just about hit her!

What could have I done to avoid this situation? Was I in the wrong moving over to the right?

I always thought the highway code stated people entering a motorway/dual carriage way must give way. Is that the case

[StressedDave]

While it's true, it's also resolutely ignored. A good piece of advice is 'priority can be given but never taken'. Failing that just remember that everyone on the road is an idiot, does idiotic things and if you plan for the worst you can always be pleasantly surprised...

[cs02rm0]

I see this a lot in Wales - the left hand lane on the M4 particularly sometimes feeds off at a junction, so these nutters just go straight to lane 2.

[Sharief]

I don't think you did anything wrong. You were being courteous, she was just a stupid cow.

Hope you gave her a honk.

[moanthebairns]

I did give her a honk but I was surprisingly calm, never even vented my anger.

This brings me on to another question about dual carriage ways.

Are cyclists aloud on them? Being an ex cyclist for many years, I personally wouldn’t dream of going up one no matter how short it is.

To be honest cyclists totally puzzle me. Not really one’s on race bikes as I can appreciate them using the main roads. But ones that spend hundreds of money on dual/downhill bikes and have to dismount to get up a kerb! I know your not meant to use the pavements as your own cycle lanes but if no one is about common sense would tell you that you would be safer and quicker to hop up on to the pavement then back off when you see a pedestrian.

Maybe I’m being too harsh.

[Vaux]

moanthebairns said:

This brings me on to another question about dual carriage ways.

Are cyclists aloud on them?

Yes they are allowed on them. Highway Code rule 75 gives advice.

[Distant]

Cyclists are generally allowed to use dual carriageways, along with pedestrians etc. Thats one of the main differences against motorways.

[moanthebairns]

I new they where allowed to cross them and such as ive seen signs warning of this however i never thought they could actually cycle right down them. Crazy when you think of the speed of the cars going past!

[hardcorehobbit]

The A64 in West/North Yorkshire has cycle lanes on it, and gaps for cyclists to cross slip roads so they're safer. So, I guess some people must use them.

[Skyrat]

moanthebairns said:

This morning I was on a stretch of dual carriage way roughly about 1/10 of a mile long.

I was on the left hand lane doing about 50 mph.

I seen the opening for cars to enter ahead of me and a woman in a c4 stationary in this slot.

I seen her look at me then the road ahead, I thought to myself she is going to pull out in front of me so I signalied and moved to the right hand lane.

As predicted she pulled out, but to my amazement into the right hand lane I was in. I had started breaking prior to this but really had to slam the brakes on! Just about hit her!

What could have I done to avoid this situation? Was I in the wrong moving over to the right?

I always thought the highway code stated people entering a motorway/dual carriage way must give way. Is that the case

It's a minefield. Sounds like you did everything right and she did everything wrong. You might theorise that if you hadn't moved over she would not have cut in front of you, but who knows what she would have done. I don't think you could be considered wrong for moving over.

The exact same thing happened to a mate of mine near Dundee, where there used to be a lot of those types of junctions. He pulled out in front of my mate, my mate changed lanes to avoid him, and then the other guy moved into the other lane. Ended up with my mate off the road entirely, onto a grassy bank and smacking into a sign post. You just can't legislate for idiots. Best thing to do is to expect them to pull out and have already have eased off with the speed, which is pretty much what you did.

[GreenV8S]

Sounds like she was in a hurry after getting stuck on the slip road so obviously she needed to be in the 'fast lane'.